Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the online arm of The Washington Post Company, introduced Sprig.com, a website aimed at environmentally conscious women. The site’s tagline is “your daily green style guide”, and in the categories of fashion, home, beauty, celebrity, shows women how to maintain their lifestyles but in a greener way. They post about six new articles a day, and already have more than 100,000 subscribers to their daily email newsletter.

The National Geographic Society has launched Green.NationalGeographic.com which includes more than 2000 pages of environmental news, videos, and tips on becoming more green. To expand the content on the green website, the organization is relying on its National Geographic News division, where 200 correspondents file daily reports on environmental news from around the world.

I think it is very smart for online publishers to take advantage of the huge market of people who are trying to become more environmentally conscious. Good for them!

I was reading Quill and Quire online the other day, and decided to save an article in my delicious bookmarks. I noticed an icon called Digg, something I wasn’t familiar with so out of curiosity I went to their website to find out more.

Like Twitter, Digg is a place for people to share content on the web. Digg’s main difference is that when something is submitted, other people can Digg (ie vote) what they like best. If a submission receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page and therefore will be seen by more users. Digg was launched in 2004 by founder Kevin Rose, and has apparently grown significantly in popularity.

I looked at a couple of posts on the front page, and it seemed like most of them are links to other websites, mostly recent news articles. I can’t see myself signing up for an account, but I suppose this could be beneficial to online magazines because they could post articles from their websites and get more traffic to their own website.

In my online magazines class, our teacher introduced us to Twitter and encouraged us all to sign up for accounts. Upon signing up, it seemed to me that Twitter was just a condensed version of Facebook. You can post updates to let your “followers” know what you are up to at any given moment, however these posts cannot be longer than 140 characters.

Personally, I don’t feel the need to update people on what I am doing every five minutes. (Do people really care if I’m eating a sandwich?) However, I have been following several online magazines, such as Quill and Quire, and I’ve found it is a quick way to keep up to date with industry news.

I will likely keep my account for the time being, if only to keep track of news in the publishing industry. If you want to learn more about how to use Twitter to benefit your website, check out 50 Twitter Tools and Tutorials For Designers and Developers 

What do you think? Do you use Twitter and if so for what purpose?

Whether you crave organic blood orange juice or Tropicana, there is something for every food lover on the Danforth. Three grocery stores co-exist on the Danforth because they are unique and there is something for everyone. Sun Valley, The Big Carrot, and the IGA are all popular options for grocery shoppers, depending on what you want, and the kind of shopper you are.Sun Valley Fine Foods, located at 583 Danforth Avenue,  specializes in gourmet goods. Opened in 1989, Sun Valley started out as a run-of-the-mill grocery store. Fifteen years ago, the store underwent renovations because the owners felt the area needed a fine foods store. Now, Sun Valley offers a combination of fine foods and regular items.

When asked how Sun Valley remains competitive with nearby grocery stores, Michael Apostolou, manager of Sun Valley responds, “ Our prices are competitive. We cater to everyday people who want their everyday items, but also want gourmet products such as foie gras or a special olive oil.”

A special olive oil indeed. Exclusive to Sun Valley is an extra virgin olive oil from Greece that was ranked #1 among all oils tested in a Toronto Star poll. And there’s a huge selection of ACE Bakery breads for dipping. If you don’t want to lug your groceries home with you, Sun Valley delivers—only $5.00 with a minimum purchase of $20.00.

Michael claims that cleanliness, friendly staff, a variety of products and competitive prices are what makes people come back to Sun Valley. Karen Helm, a student at Centennial College, agrees. She shops at Sun Valley four to five times per week, and enjoys the quality produce, cheese, brands of olive oil she can’t find in other stores, and the bread and bagels. She finds the service is good; the staff are always pleasant.

Angie Biros, a regular shopper at Sun Valley, likes shopping here because “it is close to my home, and it carries things you can’t buy elsewhere, such as gourmet spreads and cheeses, good olives, and organics.”

IGA, just a few stores east of Sun Valley at 623 Danforth Avenue, has been around since 1952. According to store manager Anthony Pavlou, all kinds of people shop here, from young to old, low to high-income. “We try to cater to our customer’s needs,” says Anthony when asked how the store stays competitive. “We are incorporating more health food and organics because we know there is a need for that.”

The store underwent renovations ten years ago to increase the size and to meet customer demands for a wider variety of products. Anthony maintains that quality of service and products are what make people come back to the store.

The Big Carrot, located at 348 Danforth Avenue, has been a Canadian Worker-Owner Co-operative since 1983.  For those concerned about the well-being of the animals they eat, The Big Carrot offers a wide variety of naturally raised range meats, which means the animals are allowed to move around instead of being confined to cages. In addition, The Big Carrot carries a huge selection of bulk foods, such as different flours, beans, rice, whole grains, and nuts and seeds.

It would seem at first that three grocery stores so close together would be in big competition with each other. However, they all offer something a bit different to the consumer, something that makes them special. And its great to have options—if one store doesn’t have something you need, you can count on one of the other stores to carry it. Whether you’re searching for organic apple cider or good old Kraft Dinner, you’ll always find what you need on the Danforth. 

Do you have a favorite grocery store on the Danforth or in your community? I would love to hear what you think constitutes a great grocery store.

Web 2.0 Online Magazine Analysis
This is my web2.0 analysis for my online magazines course. I’ve chosen three magazines to review.

The New York Times online magazine offers a variety of web 2.0 features such as RSS, bookmarking tools, podcasts, the option to post a comment, and blogs. The RSS feature is located at the bottom of the page so you have to scroll all the way down to find it which isn’t very user friendly. The bookmarking tools are located at the beginning of each article underneath the title. There is the option of linking to facebook, linkedin, dig, mix, yahoo!buzz and permalink.

These tools are useful for publishers because they enable the reader to not only read articles on the website, but it also lets them interact and share ideas which means they will spend more time on the website. Marketers and advertisers want to get the most number of people possible visiting the website. The bookmarking tool allows visitors to save links to articles and share them with friends, which will ensure that more people will visit the site.
Cosmopoliatn offers Web 2.0 features such as blogs, polls, the option to email articles, RSS, bookmarking tools such as delicious, TeamSugar, Kaboodle, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Stumble It! and  MySpace.  There’s also an option to “see more like this” and “email this”. The bookmarking tools and RSS are all located under the title of the article, making them very accessible to readers.
The interactivity of this site and ease of use makes it very attractive to users. These tools are beneficial to publishers, marketers and advertisers because they offer lots of options for users to share information provided on the site, which means more people will be directed to the website.
The Walrus has an RSS link right at the top of the website, making it easily visible and accessible to users. The site also features blogs, Upon clicking on an article, right under the title are bookmarking tools such as ShareThis, Buzz up!, Facebook, Stumble, and RSS. Users have the option to comment on an article or submit a letter to the editor. There is also a link to “buy issue” underneath article titles.The site is very user friendly and provides a multitude of ways for the user to share information. It’s excellent for the publisher because it guarantees more people will be attracted to the site and will share information with their friends.